Genetics Experts Join Together to Support Efforts To Identify Remaining Hurricane
Katrina Victims

Wed., March 29, 2006 — A multi-institution team of experts, coordinated
by geneticists from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part
of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), is supporting efforts to identify
more than 70 bodies still unidentified in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

"I'm very proud of how the genetics community has joined together in this
time of continuing need. It is inspiring to see how these professionals are
giving of their time and expertise to help families through the difficult process
of finding the loved ones that Katrina so cruelly took away," said NHGRI
Scientific Director Eric D. Green, M.D., Ph.D.

When Katrina struck on August 29 and unleashed devastating floods, it claimed
more than 1,200 lives in Louisiana and Mississippi. Many of the victims already
have been identified and their remains claimed by their families. However, more
than 70 bodies remain unidentified, including bodies recovered shortly after
the floodwaters receded and bodies recently recovered as debris from the hurricane
has been removed from the hardest hit areas of New Orleans.

Using experience gained in DNA analysis of human remains after the terrorist
attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, epidemiologists, clinical geneticists and genetic
counselors are supporting Louisiana state officials in the task of collecting
data on family relationships, which is a key step in the complex process of
DNA testing being used to match recovered remains to the list of more than 1,100
people still missing in Katrina's wake.

Joan Bailey-Wilson, Ph.D., co-chief of the NHGRI's Inherited Disease Research
Branch, has been coordinating efforts of more than 70 genetics professionals
who have offered to help the Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory in its
management of the identification process and collection of DNA (cheek swab)
samples from family members of the missing. These professionals come from more
than 30 U.S. medical institutions and private practices across the United States.

Along with Elizabeth Pugh, Ph.D., M.P.H., head of statistical genetics at the
Center for Inherited Disease Research, an NIH-funded initiative based at the
Johns Hopkins' Bayview campus in Baltimore, Dr. Bailey-Wilson serves on a panel
to advise crime lab staff and the coroners' offices in both states responsible
for identifying the dead and missing. It is a repeat role for the two statistical
geneticists, who also served on a panel for the Office of the Chief Medical
Examiner in New York City after the World Trade Center attacks five years ago.
Other NIH personnel serving on both advisory committees include: Leslie Biesecker,
M.D., of NHGRI's Genetic Disease Research Branch, and Stephen Sherry, Ph.D.,
and Lisa Forman, Ph.D., both of the National Library of Medicine's National
Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI).

"Pulling together the infrastructure - from experts in various disciplines
and from medical centers across the country - is a skill that forensics experts
learned from 9/11. Most of us hoped it was a once-in-a-lifetime event, but sadly
it was not," said Dr. Bailey-Wilson, who is also an adjunct professor at
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

Many medical and dental records normally used to match bodies with names of
the missing were destroyed, leaving few clues behind as to whose remains were
found. Even DNA-facilitated identification has proved to be a challenge. Personal
items, such as toothbrushes and hairbrushes that could contain saliva and hair
samples useful in DNA testing, were often contaminated or destroyed by flooding.
Making matters worse, family members whose DNA is required to make a match were
displaced by the hurricane, making contact difficult and adding delays to interviews
and appointments for genetic testing.

"One of the lessons learned from 9/11 was that talking to the families
about the missing is skilled detective work, which is best done by qualified
genetics clinicians and genetic counselors who know the right questions to ask
based on the information needed to fill in the family pedigree," said Dr.
Pugh, who is also an assistant professor at The Johns Hopkins University School
of Medicine, observing that, in today's world of blended families and multiple
marriages, not all siblings are biologically related to one another.

Most of the genetics professionals are being sent to the Louisiana Family Assistance
Center in Baton Rouge, La., where investigative operations are based. Once there,
they interview relatives by phone to help construct complex family trees of
individuals who are presumed lost, a crucial first step in the identification
of the dead using DNA testing.

In DNA identification testing, a person's unique genetic makeup is matched
against other previously known DNA samples, such as stored blood or material
taken from toothbrushes or hair combs. If no known samples of DNA exist, DNA
is obtained from family members in order to look for unique patterns of genetic
traits, or markers, specific to the individual based on the patterns found in
the family. In the case of the 2005 hurricane victims, ultimately, the state
coroner makes an official identification using results from the DNA analysis
alone or in combination with other information, such as distinguishing physical
features or the location where the body was found.

Compiling a genetic picture of the family requires an accurate construction
of the family tree, which can be built using biological information obtained
from siblings, parents, grandparents or cousins.

"This is not an easy task. Taking down the correct information, correctly
assessing the nature of relationships, and establishing which relatives are
willing to donate DNA is a very sensitive and time-consuming process, especially
for large, extended families. But it is a task that needs to be done so that
families can finally get some answers about their missing loved ones,"
said Barbara Biesecker, M.S., director of the Johns Hopkins/NHGRI Genetic Counseling
Training Program, who has traveled to Louisiana with two groups of genetic counseling
graduate students.

Tracking this process for each missing person and each recovered body involves
tremendous attention to detail, added Dr. Pugh, who helped the Louisiana State
Police Crime Laboratory's DNA unit set up one of the computer systems and protocols
that will guide the identification process. She notes that the whole identification
effort follows strict confidentially rules to protect people's privacy.

A person's DNA contains all the genetic information passed down from their
parents, but slightly different - though mostly similar - combinations are passed
along to siblings. Statistical methods are used to compare and match DNA samples
to determine how likely it is that genetic markers found in an unidentified,
deceased person fit into the pattern of genetic markers observed in relatives
of someone reported missing.

According to Pugh, genetic testing is made easier by commercially available
computer software programs to analyze DNA testing results. These programs can
statistically match an individual with genetic material from the same person
or with that of family members using as few as 16 unique genetic markers. Additionally,
NCBI staff are deploying their innovative software programs to help assure the
quality and accuracy of the DNA results upon which identifications are being
made.

"The work of volunteers and staff at the Louisiana Family Assistance Center
and the State Police Crime Lab is helping these families, but it is also bridging
the gap between genetic and forensic medicine to help make our country better
prepared to deal with a massive disaster of this nature," said Dr. Bailey-Wilson,
who like Dr. Pugh has ties to the Gulf region, where both studied and worked
for several years.